The 2015 General Assembly Session has ended without closing the health care coverage gap in Virginia. While the adopted budget includes some good provisions for safety net providers and a limited group of low-income adults with serious mental health conditions, the failure to close the gap for up to 400,000 Virginians overshadows those measures.

Many HAV supporters and partners participated in the coalition’s work this year — attending press events, HAV lobby day, weekly meetings, contacting legislators, communicating with newspapers/media, and dispelling the misinformation that continues to come from opponents. The 105 supporting organizations understand how important this issue is for consumers, hospitals, health providers and Virginia’s economy.

The HAV Coalition will continue to advocate for expanded coverage and keep this issue alive and in the public discussion over the next months into the election season and in preparation for the 2016 session.

The Healthcare for All Virginians (HAV) Coalition is deeply disappointed in the members of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees for their refusal to include the federal funding available to provide health insurance to over 400,000 low income Virginians.

The budgets adopted yesterday leave gaping holes in Virginia’s safety net. While committee members included some funding for health clinics and the seriously mentally ill, that is a piecemeal approach to an enormous problem.

Hundreds of thousands of hardworking people across the Commonwealth will continue to suffer because they don’t have the healthcare they need.

Since January 1, 2014, Virginia has forfeited over $1.7 billion dollars in federal funding that Virginians have already paid in their taxes. That money needs to come back to Virginia to support the uninsured, hospitals, and to help Virginia’s economy. Yesterday’s actions mean Virginia will continue to forfeit over $4 million dollars, every single day. It is irresponsible for the money committees to reject billions of dollars in the face of enormous needs.

Once again, Virginia joins the minority of states that are refusing to accept federal funds to address the needs of the uninsured. Today – 29 states (including the District of Columbia) have already closed their coverage gaps.

It’s a sad day when legislators allow a political agenda to trump the urgent needs of Virginia families. The HAV Coalition will continue to advocate for action until this coverage is a reality for low-income Virginians.

As supporters of closing the health care coverage gap, Healthcare for All Virginians Coalition held a press conference in renewing our call for the legislature to take action this session and accept the funding available to Virginia to close the gap and get up to 400,000 people the health care they need.

“We challenge opponents to stop saying ‘NO’ to everything. Stop wasting precious dollars, stop hurting hospitals, and stop compromising the health of their constituents,” said Jill Hanken, Senior Health Attorney with the Virginia Poverty Law Center. “We have a statewide problem, and there is an efficient and cost-effective way to solve it: Accept the funding available to Virginia to Close the Coverage Gap.”

“There’s a very strong fiscal argument to closing the coverage gap,” said Michael Cassidy, President of The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis. “The state would see very significant state budget savings by not having to pay for the wide array of services we currently provide to the uninsured with state general fund dollars. At a time when lawmakers are considering further cuts to key services, these savings are being left on the table. Lawmakers have a fiscally responsible way to close the coverage gap. What’s not fiscally responsible is to ignore options to close the gap, to continue to have Virginia tax dollars go to Washington and not come back in the form of greater opportunities to access health care for our residents,” said Cassidy.

He also called attention to a recent report, Every Legislator, Every District, that identifies the hard numbers around constituents in every legislative district that stand to gain from closing the coverage gap.

Unlike Virginia, a majority of states have taken advantage of the opportunity to expand their Medicaid programs. Today, 27 states plus the District of Columbia have closed their coverage gaps. This includes neighboring states like West Virginia and Kentucky. It also includes states led by Republican Governors like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Ohio.

In addition to the states that have already expanded, there are now at least four additional states led by Republican governors that have filed proposals or are negotiating with CMS to close their coverage gaps. These states are Tennessee, Wyoming, Utah, and Indiana. Montana and Alaska also are contemplating proposals, and there are suggestions from the Governors of North Carolina and Alabama that expansion could be considered there as well.

“These states are realizing it makes no sense to pass up the available federal funding to help low-income uninsured people receive much-needed health care,” said Hanken.

Today marks the day that Virginia has lost $250 million – one quarter of a Billion dollars – by rejecting the opportunity to cover its uninsured citizens. We will continue to lose $5 million each day that we delay providing coverage to 400,000 uninsured Virginians. The Healthcare for All Virginians Coalition held a press conference to relay this troubling news to the public. The press release is available here.

Dr. Richard Szucs, Past President of the Richmond Academy of Medicine and the President of the medical staff at Bon Secours St. Mary’s, quantified what Virginians could have bought with that $250 million:

4,897,160 primary care visits

3,815,628 mental health screening visits

4,798,464 inhalers

12.5 million boxes of insulin text strips (25 day supply)

5,950,000 mammograms

358,166 colonoscopies

On Sunday, the House of Delegates responded to this terrible loss of funding not by offering a plan to bring back Virginians’ tax dollars to provide health coverage to low-income Virginians, but by asking Virginians to pay TWICE for the same thing. Instead of using the available federal dollars, they are allocating precious state dollars that could be used for education, transportation, and other key priorities. The House proposal is certainly not fiscally prudent.

Moreover, the House proposal to restore some cuts to hospitals and give health clinics $3 million a year is a drop in the bucket compared the federal money we can use right now. The graph to the right shows how little help the House provides compared to the opportunity Virginia has now to close the coverage gap.

Each day we delay action, Virginia loses an additional $5 million. Tell your legislators to support a plan that closes the coverage gap!

A new poll released by Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center for Public Policy confirms what we already know – Virginians support Medicaid expansion. The poll, conducted between January 15th and January 22nd, finds that 56% of Virginia voters are in favor of Medicaid expansion. This support is widespread throughout the commonwealth. Majorities in Northern, Central, Southwest and Southside Virginia as well as the Hampton Roads region all support expansion.

Also significant, Virginians of all political stripes support expansion. Democrats favor expansion by a 58% – 36% margin, Republicans 55% – 38%, and Independents 55% – 39%. In other words, Medicaid expansion is not a partisan issue.

Some opponents will say that when asked to consider if the federal government does not pay its share, 54% of respondents said that they oppose expanding coverage. That’s a reasonable response, and that is why Virginia lawmakers already addressed the issue! Virginia’s budget already includes language that compels the Department of Medical Assistance Services to disenroll Virginians from the expansion population if the federal government doesn’t pay its promised share.

Providing health insurance to up to 400,000 Virginians transcends party lines and location. Call your lawmaker now and tell them to listen to Virginians and close the coverage gap today.